Adam Yates bearing the brunt of his Stage 16 crash of the 2018 Tour de France

Froome has been a repeated target of fans in this Tour after he was cleared of doping five days before the race began.

Sprinters Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen - who had each won two stages in this Tour - called it quits during Stage 12 to Alpe d'Huez.

But Dumoulin will feel he needs to take at least a minute off Thomas's advantage heading into the time trial, a discipline in which he is the reigning world champion.

Demare said he was motivated by an accusation on social media from Andre Greipel, a top German sprinter, who alleged that Demare held on to his team vehicle on the way up the gruelling Col du Portet in Stage 17.

Demare finished Wednesday's stage second to last but managed to avoid the time cut as thousands of French spectators cheered him on.

Greipel, who also quit in Stage 12, later apologised on Twitter, saying he had relied on "incorrect" information. A large group of riders broke away from the peleton early on, settling at 18 riders ahead of the first serious climb of the day to Col D'Aspin. "It's a shame that people cast doubts over my performance and my hard work".

"The best response would be to win today". It's not in my mindset or my philosophy to [cheat]. The last climb will mostly be down to the legs.

Nairo Quintana won stage 17 and Thomas moved closer to the overall title on Wednesday, now holding a 1 minute 59 second lead over Tom Dumoulin, who is in second.

As tradition dictates, Sunday's final stage, from Houilles to the Champs Élysées, is effectively neutralised between the main contenders and the battle for the yellow jersey already concluded, but with hardly any flat road between the start and the finish of Saturday's time trial, this stage will be a brutal climax to the three-week race.

The queen stage of this year's Tour it features a hellish profile for the peloton, 200.5km between Lourdes and Laruns, that takes in vertical slogs up Col d'Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and Col d'Aubisque - aptly nicknamed the "Circle of Death". "It's the last mountain stage, and I think guys will try to take every opportunity they can", Thomas said. "I think it was too much to drink and a bit of an idiot". "Chris is fine", said a Team Sky spokesman.

"Hopefully we won't have to use Froomey. It'll be good to just keep doing what we've been doing".

"Obviously having "Froomey" at my disposal so to speak is phenomenal", Thomas said. But Froome voiced his frustration by yelling an expletive at the officer before riding off.

One fan who reached over the barriers almost took Thomas down Wednesday.

"That's a secondary thought for me right now", Froome said of the podium in Paris.

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He has pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of bank and tax fraud and failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Alex Van der Zwaan, a lawyer who once worked closely with Manafort and Gates, has also pleaded guilty and has been sentenced.

President Trump's tariff threats against China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union prompted immediate threats of retaliation. The administration has slapped tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods and China retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork.

Antonov said it's important to "deal with the results" of the leaders' first summit before jumping too fast into a new one. In exchange, he said , Russian authorities could interview several Americans the Kremlin accuses of unspecified crimes.

For Rose, there was pride at getting so near after needing a birdie on No. 18 on Friday to even make it to the weekend. Molinari, sitting on a sofa and watching TV in what looked like a scoring trailer, could finally celebrate.

The military has ruled Pakistan through various coups for almost half of the country's history since independence in 1947. The PPP managed to maintain its stronghold in the Sindh Assembly and should lead the provincial government.

It said there had been an increase in fighting across its northern border, including intensified Syrian Air force activity. Israel says it has shot down a Syrian warplane which entered its airspace - a rare incident between the two foes.

At a Congressional hearing last month, Rosenstein responded to charges by Jordan that he was "hiding information from Congress". The last time the House actually voted to impeach an executive branch official other than a president was 1876 .

They were also the first to realise that there just might be a massive planet out there in the outer reaches of the solar system. Telescopes in Chile, Hawaii and Arizona were used for the original discovery and year-long confirmation of the moons.

More than 100 ex-students interviewed reported "firsthand accounts" of being victimized by Strauss, the university said. Investigators also are looking into Strauss' work for student health services and at his off-campus medical clinic.

I think the Renault and Honda engines are very close, maybe with a small advantage for us. Hamilton has put pen to paper on a bumper new contract.

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